Goodbye, “new and improved” Yellow Brick Road? Not so fast.
Yes, the proposed “Wizard of Oz” remake from wokester Kenya Barris appears to be stalled, possibly for good. The project announcement came all the way back in 2022, when woke still ruled Hollywood.
If Hollywood’s imagination drain continues, in 30 years they’ll make a movie about the movie about the movie …
But now, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton promise a “new” “Wizard of Oz” series that reimagines the saga from a young adult perspective.
The series will use “the Yellow Brick Road as a metaphor for the challenges and choices facing young adults today.” As Keanu Reeves might say, “Whoa!”
Maybe if we click our heels three times, this project will go the way of the Wicked Witch of the West …
‘Potter’ squatter
Sometimes, even Hollywood types make total sense.
Take Chris Columbus. The “Home Alone” director shot the first two “Harry Potter” films in that insanely successful series. Now, HBO Max is prepping a new “Potter” series that will bring the beloved books to life.
Again.
Didn’t the films do just that in epic fashion? Was anyone dissatisfied with the finished product? It’s all pretty confusing to Columbus (and to anyone who doesn’t understand Hollywood’s lust for intellectual property).
“I looked online, and there are photographs of Nick Frost as Hagrid with the new Harry Potter,” Columbus said. “And he’s wearing the exact same costume that we designed for Hagrid. Part of me was like, ‘What’s the point?’ I thought everything [on the HBO show], the costumes and everything, was going to be different. It’s more of the same.”
He’s right. And it doesn’t matter. The streamer wouldn’t risk all that cash — a reported $100 million per episode — if it didn’t have faith it’ll draw a crowd.
Heck, they might as well start a third Harry Potter adaptation as soon as this one wraps …
Rocky’s road
Sick of reboots, sequels, and prequels? How about a movie about the making of a movie? It sounds pretty darn meta, but this one actually might work.
Why?
The film is “I Play Rocky,” and it recalls Sylvester Stallone’s battle to both write and star in the movie that would change his career. A young Stallone was a virtual nobody in Hollywood when he wrote a script about a down-on-his-luck boxer who got a chance at being the champ.
The studio loved the script but clamored for a “star” to play the main character. Stallone dug in his heels, insisting he was the right person to play Rocky Balboa. “Yo!”
It’s as inspiring as the actual film, and director Peter Farrelly previously gave us the Oscar-winning “Green Book.”
If Hollywood’s imagination drain continues, in 30 years they’ll make a movie about the movie about the movie …
‘Eternals’ flame out
Ask any indie filmmaker what they crave more than anything else, and the answer is clear.
Money. As in, “Can I have some more, please?”
Indie filmmakers make do with less, cutting corners wherever possible and finding new ways to stretch their limited budgets.
So when indie auteur Chloe Zhao got the keys to a Marvel project, she probably pinched herself. Endless Mouse House cash!
It turns out that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Zhao’s “Eternals” flopped, at least by superhero standards, and she retreated to more familiar terrain with the upcoming indie drama “Hamnet.” That film is a fictional look at the death of William Shakespeare’s son and how it inspired the creation of “Hamlet.”
Too much cash wasn’t the elixir Zhao expected.
“‘Eternals’ had, like, an unlimited amount of money and resources. And here we have one street corner that we can afford, to [stand in for] Stratford. … ‘Eternals’ didn’t have a lot of limitations, and that is actually quite dangerous. Because we only have that street corner [in ‘Hamnet’], suddenly everything has meaning.”
Here’s betting she’ll miss that MCU-size personal trailer …
No sisterhood for Sweeney
“It girl” actress Sydney Sweeney enraged the left by flaunting her good “genes” in an American Eagle ad. The commercial roiled the usual suspects, who dubbed her a Nazi for trying to peddle jeans with her iconic curves.
Conservatives rallied to her side, understanding that sex sells and Sweeney did nothing wrong. One group that refused to have the starlet’s back?
Feminists.
RELATED: Sydney Sweeney is rebuilding Americana — one Bronco at a time
Photo by MEGA / Contributor via Getty Images
Why didn’t they support her against the woke mob? Doesn’t she have the “agency” to make her own creative choices?
Their silence got even louder when a certain comedian came to her defense. Matt Rife, known for his rough-and-tumble crowd work, isn’t a feminist by any definition. Glamour magazine slammed his comedy brand as misogynist.
Yet it was Rife who defended Sweeney on a related subject. The actress recently teamed with Dr. Squatch for a bathwater soap product dubbed “Bathwater Bliss.”
“I keep seeing people mad at Sydney Sweeney for noooothing. She’s learning that the internet is full of absolute garbage losers who will twist anything you say into a c**ty misinterpretation. People are awful.”
People can be awful. And feminists can be hypocrites all day long.
Entertainment, Culture, Gwen stefani, Wizard of oz, Hollywood, Harry potter, Tv, Movies, Toto recall, Sydney sweeney
